Sleeping Awake
by Terapsina
Summary: After the sacrifice Elena shuts herself off from the outside world, but soon starts to have incredibly vivid dreams involving Elijah. Eventually he might become the one her heart dreamt about as well, if he wasn't just a figment of her imagination. Elejah
1. First Dream

Disclaimer: The Vampire Diaries and all the characters within that show belong to other people I have no dealings with whatsoever. If it were otherwise Elijah would be one of the main characters and Elena would fall hopelessly in love with him.

AN: I don't know where this comes from or how often I'll be updating it, but the chapters although chronological will be able to mostly stand on their own. I couldn't resist the thought of Elena dreaming about Elijah, you see the results of the sneaky plot bunny.

O0o0O **Sleeping Awake** O0o0O

O0o0O **First Dream** O0o0O

Elena opens her eyes to the familiar white ceiling of her room and is instantly aware that she is still asleep. She isn't sure how she knows it, because everything feels real enough, but the knowledge is there buried in her subconscious mind and available to her now that she's dreaming.

She is laying in her warm bed, her head resting against the soft pillow and the silence is so clear it could never be recreated in the waking world. As if going through predetermined dance steps her eyes travel across the ceiling downwards, rest on her family picture on the wall and then drift towards the open window. She blinks for the first time noticing that she isn't alone.

A tall man with his back to her is resting against the windowsill and looking up at the night sky. There is an exquisite elegance even to his slouched stance and she recognizes him instantly.

"Elijah." The smile he sends her after turning his head is barely there, and like always it has millions of buried thoughts hiding in its curves. And then akin to every time before she only understands the barest hint of meaning. There is a sadness to his eyes though that she sympathizes with instantly, he is weighted down with something too heavy for even him to bear. She doesn't want that empathy to be born, but the feeling lurks past her guard and nests.

"Hello Elena. Glad to see that you're awake." His voice carries the pleasant tranquility and spark of tension she has grown familiar with, but even more so. As if the dream enhances the traits she associates with Elijah until they flow around her as magic in its purest form. She doesn't know if that excites or frightens her, possibly a bit of both.

"But I'm not am I?" It's not actually a question, she already knows the answer, but she needs the steadying grounding of a conversation to clear her head from the trance like effects of his voice. If only she had been awake her heart would be beating a bit quicker than normal and the anger she knows should be there wouldn't be removed from her grasp, but he _wouldn't_ be there is she was awake.

"No, I suppose not." He nods in agreement and Elena frowns at herself for noticing how his already striking facial contours somehow become even more appealing. Instead of thinking about that she chooses to pretend the dream hasn't robbed her of the resentment thoughts of him never fail to invoke in her now.

"What are you doing here? You didn't keep yourself to your word after all that talk about honor and trust. I shouldn't be thinking let alone dreaming about you." And Elena knows the lie in those words. She has been thinking about him almost as much as she does about Stefan, even if most of those thoughts are less than complimentary. And she misses him, a little. That's one of the reason's his betrayal hurts.

"But you have been thinking about me, I would never be here otherwise." She flinches at his comeback, she already knew that so why did a figment of her imagination have to throw it into her face too? Elena doesn't respond, instead she changes the subject.

"How are you?" Elena doesn't actually want to know, she's afraid she already does.

"Dead. But you already knew that Elena." And she did, but the confirmation creates a pain lacking after the first time he was deceased. She knew Klaus couldn't be trusted, even worse than that so had Elijah and he still decided to bargain with him. The moment Elena learned about Elijah's choice she had already known what his brother would do to him.

"I suppose so. Why _didn't_ you kill Klaus?" Elena knows the story, - Stefan had relayed it to her right after she stopped crying about Jenna, - but she needs to hear the answer, needs him to be the one that tells her. "You had his heart in your hands and you let him live, even after everything he has done to me, to innocent people, to your _family_."

"You know the answer to that Elena. You would have done exactly the same as me. After all family is everything, and he promised me mine." His slightly bitter words don't make his actions any better, they have still cost her too much to be forgiven that quickly or easily, but they help. She understands.

For a moment they stay silent. Elena contemplates the man in front of her, trying to come to some kind of conclusion that would finally help her categorize him. But Elijah is too vague a concept, has gone through too many roles in her mind. She gives up and spills to him the sentence she's wanted to for two weeks now.

"You know that I will never forgive you, Stefan's gone because of you." There is no malice in Elena's declaration, it is just something that needs to be said. But his face grows cold, hiding some emotion he doesn't want her to see. He looks like the unfeeling monster she took him for on their first meeting and it leaves a stark impression in the central area of her chest.

"And Damon's alive." Even asleep, when the matters of the heart should be clearer Elena doesn't know if that should change anything. She's glad Damon didn't die, but she hates how it's exactly his life that stole Stefan from her. She still doesn't know which option is the bigger tragedy, and she despises just what it is this tells her about herself.

"That doesn't change _anything_, you still broke your word and you didn't know that Tyler bit Damon or that you brothers blood was the cure. I will never trust you again." Elijah looks at her the way the real version of him did constantly, as if he was reading her soul through her eyes. Then he for the first time since the start of the conversation straightens his shoulders and slowly with no quick movements walks towards her as if cornering a jittery prey. He sits down on the side of her bed, extends his right hand and runs his fingers over the brown strand of hair covering her cheek, the very tips ghost across her skin.

It's that sensation and his following sentence that follows her out of the dream and into the morning light.

"Maybe, but never is a very long time."

O0o0O **Further Dreams Coming** O0o0O


	2. Skipping Stones Dream

Disclaimer: The Vampire Diaries and all the characters it depicts don't belong to me, and when I wrote this it wasn't to infringe on anyone's rights. If the world was a different place however Elijah would already be alive.

O0o0O **Sleeping Awake** O0o0O

O0o0O **Skipping Stones Dream** O0o0O

A month has past since her strange dream about Elijah. The ease with which she talked with him has bothered her since and the comfort she took from it even more so. It isn't a good sign that she was more honest with him than any of her friends, but maybe it doesn't mean anything too significant, after all he was just a representation of her own subconscious not the real Original. Although why it took his form in the first place she has no idea.

And Elena had been _sure_ it would be a one time only deal. At least until she opens her eyes and finds herself standing under an autumn colored oak by a lakeside and is proven wrong. Her hair is falling down further than she can ever remember having them and they curl all the way to the tips. A red dress she recognizes as the style of the fifteenth century is strangling her body.

She inwardly curses any and every god watching her.

Slowly turning in place she is already certain she would see him. She wasn't however expecting him to be skipping stones. The act in itself is so innocent and his vague smile so charmingly childlike she can't stop the little snort from escaping.

"Something funny?" He doesn't even turn, only crouches to pick up some more stones and throws one of them after those that came before it. It jumps four times before drowning in the crystal clear water.

"Yeah, you. Last time you threw stones you aimed them at me, who could've guessed you got that from a kids game?" Elena certainly hadn't, this wasn't something she would imagine he enjoyed.

"Do you wish to start an argument?" He throws her a sidelong glance and Elena feels a little offended at the humor his look contains. "And anyway, I wasn't throwing those _at_ you. If my intention was to injure you I would have aimed a little to the left. At the time I was certain you had just betrayed me, the stones were intended to frighten."

Silence descends upon them interrupted only by the sound of the pebble meeting the surface of water and then detaching from it. The peace for a while is too comfortable to be broken. She shakes it off.

"Why am I dreaming about you?" Elena isn't sure where the question comes from, it just creates itself in her mind and skips from her lips before she can imprison it within.

"I do not know Elena, why are you?"

She grimaces. Elena would really rather prefer if he didn't throw back her own questions at her, especially those like this one.

"An easier one then. Where exactly are we and what am I wearing, I can't breathe in this thing." Elena is surprised by her own trouble with inhaling, as far as the rules of dreamland go she would have thought that that sort of sensation was out of reach. She mentions that too. "Shouldn't I be unable to feel things like pain and lack of breath?"

He exhales in slight exasperation and after throwing the last stone finally turns around. It's the first time she's really looked at him today, his clothes and hairstyle is completely foreign. His brown hair carry waves in them and are longer than she is used to, he looks to be from a different century. And then she reminds to herself that he is.

Without talking or removing his eyes from hers he walks towards her and then steps around stopping when facing her back. She freezes and begins to turn as well when he gently takes her hair and puts it over her shoulder.

"Stay still and let me help you with that." His long fingers expertly begin to loosen the strings keeping the dress tightly around her chest. Not once does his hand touch her skin, yet somehow it still feels like something intimate between people much closer than Elijah and her. She can feel it as the skin beneath the dress flushes and she is thankful he's standing behind her, because she's certain her face is doing the same.

"Wow your good, exactly how many women have you dressed out of these things?" She grimaces at the way that question comes out sounding, and more than that out of not really wanting to hear the answer.

"Not as many as you are thinking about now. I used to help my sister with this, she rather hated them I recall." It takes him a minute before he's done loosening the corset enough for her to breathe freely and then tie it back up more comfortably. She uses that time to think about his comment and to fight off the rosy tone on her cheeks.

Why is it that Elijah always tells those little bits of his past to her, he always reveals more than needed for any given situation. She always feels honored when he does.

Once she's sure she looks normal again Elena turns around to thank him and looks up to find him closer than she expected. A strange look passes across his face and he blinks, suddenly she isn't as certain she managed to hide all the effects of the thoughts of the past minute. She steps back looking away.

Something akin to disappointment flickers in his gaze, but he smiles and opens his mouth to divert the uncomfortable atmosphere suddenly standing between them.

"To answer your previous questions we are by a lake in England I used to enjoy thinking at when living here. As for the lack of breath, some dreams have more… substance than others." His voice is an octave lower than usual and Elena shivers. The air is becoming cooler maybe.

"Oh." She sighs and shakes off the tingles traveling across her body.

Meanwhile Elijah has already walked back to the spot she first saw him in and is picking up a pebble the right shape for its intended purpose.

"Would you like to try? Or have you never learned how to do this?" The challenge is clear and Elena has never backed out of one of those, it has cost her dearly in some aspects though.

"Give it here, you're throwing them wrong anyway." He takes her hand in his palm and places the pebble within hers. His hands are warm, somehow she hadn't been expecting that and she can't even remember when she had thought about how they would feel.

Whatever the expectations, they were wrong. His hold is gentle and skin soft and it all flows up her arm and into her chest. His gesture isn't in any way sensual or unpleasant, but the familiarity startles her hand away. She toys with the flatly shaped stone in the hand that is colder than it was a second ago.

Elena looks at the tranquil water of the lake and wishes her emotions could take on that state, they don't.

She throws and looks on as the pebble jumps on the surface of the water eight times. Giddiness she didn't know she still possessed bubbles within her and escapes through the clear ring of laughter. She hasn't done this for _years_, she had forgotten how fun it could be.

"And _that's_ how you skip stones." Elena lifts her chin in victory and curtsies to him for her own accomplishment.

Elijah just curls his lips into an expression that on any other face would look like a smirk, on his though it is more similar to knowing amusement. He throws his stone with a speed and strength not available to a human and the pebble skips until she can no longer see it, she has no doubt it will reach the other side of the shore.

Elena glares all the while fighting down a grin, "Showoff!"

Elijah doesn't dignify that with an answer, he just offers her another stone. They keep skipping them and keeping count, - after some ground rules have been agreed upon of course, - and they do so for what seems like hours.

For the first time in months Elena wakes up with a smile on her face.

O0o0O **Further Dreams Coming** O0o0O

O0o0O

AN: You might think that Elijah and Elena are developing a bit too quickly, and in the real world that would be true, but in dreams people lose all those pesky inhibitions that stop us from doing whatever we like. Now Elena still has those, because in these dreams she is self aware, but they are definitely lowered a great deal. So what did you think?


	3. The Cloudy Sky Dream

Disclaimer: The Vampire Diaries and the characters represented and mentioned in this story aren't mine and never will be. If they were Elijah would already be alive.

AN: So this chapter has a bit more Stelena in it, but Elena loves Stefan right now and I don't intend to ignore that just because I prefer her with Elijah.

O0o0O **Sleeping Awake** O0o0O

O0o0O **The Cloudy Sky Dream** O0o0O

It's been two months since Stefan left her to save the life of his brother, and the longer he's gone the more distant she becomes. The only thing stopping her from tracking him down is the lack of leads to follow. Sometimes she feels almost dead.

So when Elena falls asleep she doesn't expect life to be blown back into her veins when she inhales the cool air of her family's forest cabin that somehow still smells like pines and childhood memories. The sky reveals to her it's somewhere around twilight, but the clouds are completely covering the sun and making her guess uncertain.

Despite the dreary atmosphere she can breathe without the now familiar constricting pain in her chest that follows her almost everywhere.

"You know the last time I was here I was with Stefan." Elena barely whispers. After all the words are meant more for herself, but she isn't the slightest bit surprised when she gets a response. She knew he would be there somewhere.

"Yes I know, after all you killed me here. Things like that I do not tend to forget." His tone implies dry humor his words would otherwise overlook. She turns around and sadly looks at the last man she should find any comfort in. But Elijah never did follow her expectations, even when she wished nothing quite as much as for him to do so.

He is wearing the dark suit she ruined by piercing it with a dagger, but here it's just as intact as the night she first saw him in it. His eyes are as sad as she imagines her own to be.

"I had no choice. And I already did apologize." Yet somehow guilt still seeps through her resentment. She stands on the wooden planks built over the tranquil lake, covered in a blanket that's keeping her warm and refuses to show him how sorry she actually is for that one act. After all it is one of the mistakes she will always remember, it cost the lives of two people who just wanted to reunite their family.

"You did." The way he says that and the smile that she finds in his eyes tell her he saw right through her unconcerned act. It is frightening just how well they can read each other, even when they do everything to hide the thoughts filling their minds.

"I miss him." The words escape her and for a second she isn't sure if she means Stefan or the Original the being in front of her represents, but then the agony of being apart from the man who holds her heart returns and there is no question.

"You love him, if you didn't long for his return I would think you to be more like Katerina than I thought." Elijah looks on at her in sympathy and the understanding his eyes convey destroys the wall that has been holding back the weeping girl hiding in her soul. Tears travel down her face revealing the injuries bleeding otherwise unseen and untreated.

"You used to follow Klaus the way _he_ is now, you know everything that entails. Could you tell me what Stefan is doing now?" And she wants to know, the question has been keeping her awake for hours on end. She's afraid the answer won't let her sleep at all.

"Do you really wish to know? I could tell you, but it wouldn't make you feel better and it will not help you with getting him back." Elijah slowly steps closer and uncertainly as if unsure how to do it wipes the salt from her cheeks with his thumb. The gesture is so touching exactly because she knows how alien it comes to him, and it warms some little part of her heart. The sky above clears the slightest amount and a weak ray of colored sunshine illuminates them both giving a rosy tint to the otherwise gray world.

"I guess not." Maybe despite the loneliness that is eating her whole she doesn't actually want to know everything Stefan is going through at exactly that moment, maybe later when he is there in front of her and she can help him deal and heal she will be ready for those answers. Right now her life is heavy enough, but she does need to give someone a bit of that weight before she is crushed beneath it. "It's just… ever since I met Stefan, he's always been there, even when Katherine broke us apart I could always count on him. And now he's gone and I have no one to talk to, at least no one I can say anything to and _know_ they would understand."

"And yet you are talking with me now." She looks up and is struck by the wonder contained in his eyes, he looks enraptured by her very sight.

"In a dream, not in reality. You're gone too." And some part of Elena knows she says that to remind herself that nothing happening there is real, everything is conjured up by subconscious desire to see him. And she still doesn't know where that need originates, but she knows she can't let it have free reign. She looks at him and forgets why.

Both of them are silent, neither breaking the connection looking at each other has spelled around them. Until she can't stand it any longer without doing something she would regret and looks away.

"It's funny I'm going through every moment half asleep and yet now it's the most awake I've felt in weeks." Elena doesn't truly realize the truth of that until she says it aloud. In the waking world she is constantly tired, as if the sleep she gets isn't enough to deal with the life she leads. Here her spirit seems to be able to roam free even with broken wings.

"You shouldn't abandon life Elena, human's have so precious little of it and yet you always have opportunities to do more with every minute than us immortals have with entire centuries." There is sadness and undeniable knowledge wielded by those words, if anyone would know that it would certainly be him and yet she is not ready to listen.

"But when Stefan isn't here with me, when I know he's somewhere out traveling with Klaus doing things he would never justify how can I just move on?" She can't do that, he has ruled her heart for too long, has too much of it with him for her to just ignore and forget. And for some reason she needs for Elijah to understand.

"You don't have to, I'm the last person to make you let go of the people you care about. But maybe you should wait for the opportunity and still treasure the best moments of right now."

"I can't." Without Stefan those moments are too pointless.

Elijah doesn't try to argue, maybe because he sees that it is too soon for that. Maybe because there is nothing he can say.

Instead he takes her hand and warms it between both of his. It relays more than some meaningless words anyway.

"You could have become a friend." And Elena can't help the pang of sadness that envelops her because they didn't have enough time for that to become a reality.

"I haven't had a friend in a really long time, I don't know if I still remember how to be one." Elijah has never uttered something that was so honest and as big of a lie as the words that follow next. "Elena? You are the closest thing to a friend I have right now."

And somehow Elena wakes up a little less depressed than when she fell asleep.

O0o0O **Further Dreams Coming** O0o0O

O0o0O


	4. The Stuck in a Tree Dream

Disclaimer: The Vampire Diaries and all its characters belong to the network and people I have no association with whatsoever so obviously I have no rights to this show. I do have the right to play in the sandbox without being paid and that is exactly what I'm doing now.

AN: So this came to me while I was going to my grandmothers house (strangely enough the chapter itself is in no way related to her or any big bad wolves) and so I dedicate it to her and all the cookies she has ever baked for me ;)

O0o0O **Sleeping Awake** O0o0O

O0o0O **The Stuck in a Tree Dream** O0o0O

When she opens her eyes she is ready for a lot, she is not however ready for the position she has awakened asleep in. A little sound escapes her throat and it can only be described as a squeak, if she wasn't so startled she might have felt embarrassed about it. But she is laying on her stomach in an old oak with her arms and legs encircling one of its branches and so embarrassment could not be further from her thoughts.

For a moment all Elena can do is stay frozen in slight fright and somewhere at the back of her mind note that twenty feet look a great deal higher from above. She isn't afraid of heights, but that is easier to remember when one is standing on firm ground looking over the edge of a cliff not when the only thing stopping a painful fall is the strength of a tree, the hope that no bugs have chipped away its integrity and in her case whether or not her subconscious feels generous on this particular night.

She closes her eyes and slowly inhales to slow down her imagined heartbeat, panicking wont assist her with getting down. She is almost calm when the sound of honeyed laughter reaches her ears from somewhere below and her heart quickens again this time for an entirely different reason.

She forces her eyes open, looks down and notices Elijah laying in the slowly swaying grass directly under her. He is sleeping on his back looking up at her while his eyes are alight with enjoyment over her unfortunate situation, a strand of hair falls across his face covering his left brow. She isn't sure she has ever seen something so hypnotizing before.

"Shut up." Coming out of the slight trance the glare she produces comes so easily it is almost eerie, but the bite the words require lack strength and her lips twitch at the humor her position would deserve if it was someone else stranded in her place. There is however no way she will admit that to him.

"My lovely Elena is there anything you require my help for?" She wishes she could ignore the pleasant tremble running down her spine when he calls her his, she isn't his though and the thought shouldn't make her feel so intensely enraptured. Besides he might have stopped laughing, but there is definitely a wicked glint still decorating his face and making him aware of her growing attraction, the one that truthfully had started long before these dreams came would only encourage him. She wouldn't appreciate it at all.

"No, of course not." Never before has sarcasm been so blatantly obvious, it serves to hide her thoughts well.

"That's good, I am rather comfortable here." She grinds her teeth and wonders at the exasperation his words have produced. She is too stubborn to ask for his assistance and instead she slowly and carefully moves to a sitting position, the branch creaks protesting her motion with a threat. Maybe stubbornness isn't the smartest option at that moment.

"Just get me down Elijah." It's more of a command than a plea, but Elijah still stands up and moves towards the base of the oak leaving the sight of her vision. Suddenly Elena hears him hiss in pain and the worry she suddenly feels is so unexpected it chases all other thoughts from her mind.

"Elijah? Are you alright?" He doesn't answer immediately and she bites into her lip to ward off the concern.

"It looks like we have a problem Elena." He steps back and she sees him looking at his palm, it is burned red and shows no signs of the rapid healing of an ordinary vampire let alone an Original. "The tree looks to be covered in vervain."

Elena knows what that means, she will have to climb down on her own. It's _her_ dream and still it doesn't allow things to be easy. Of course not, that would count as fair.

"Fine. I'm not going to be able to see everything so tell me if it looks like a branch is ready to break." She doesn't have to look down to know that Elijah is watching her like a hawk, but she does anyway because looking into his eyes has always brought a certain taste of safety. This time is no different he is looking at her and she can read his promise so clearly he doesn't have to say anything. He won't let her fall.

Logically Elena knows that hitting the ground won't kill her, it won't even break anything. But these dreams are unusually clear and technically she wasn't supposed to feel strangled by her dress in one of the previous dreams either. Pain might actually be real.

She starts moving backwards toward the trunk of the tree, its bark is uncomfortably rubbing against her bare inner thighs and she curses the red shorts that barely just cover more than a miniskirt would. The attire promises the painful bruises she is glad she won't actually have to live with.

Looking behind her she quickly takes notice of a lower branch she can use to lean her weight on before she has to turn around to face the body of the tree.

"Careful Elena,-" she stops moving and sends him down a questioning look he seems to translate effortlessly. "-the branch you're about to steady your left leg against is half broken already."

She looks behind her and this time sees what she missed in her previous quick look, there is a leaf partially covering a crack that almost certainly would have broken if Elijah hadn't given the warning. The leaf in question is suddenly caught by a breeze and then drops, without conscious control her eyes follow it as it slowly drifts lower on the invisible drift of wind. She swallows at just how long it takes before the reddish oak leaf touches the ground.

"Elijah? Why didn't you just compell me, why did you offer me a deal you could have made me obey?" She needs him to take her mind off the height, needs to think about something other than her bones breaking on impact with the ground. And from experience she knows he is one of the best storyteller's she has ever listened to, largely due to his voice. It's calming and compelling, it brings goose bumps to her skin and right now that is exactly what she needs. Besides, she has been secretly wondering about this since he came into her house and proposed their bargain.

"The simple answer is because it didn't matter how you got to the point of the sacrifice just that you did. The truth I admit is more complex however, what I needed from you was a big sacrifice and after I met you, after I saw how important your family was to you I knew I could never… Elena stop!" She freezes in place, while he was talking she had turned around to be in a better position and was starting to lower herself to the branch beneath her. And that is when she notices that some of her long brown strands of hair have tangled themselves between the three small leaf covered branches next to her face.

Only her toes are resting against anything solid, and both her arms are busy with holding herself up, if she keeps moving pulling her hair will be the least of her worries.

"There's the cracked branch to your right. Move your arm and… a bit higher, yes now let go with your other hand and try to free your hair." She is barely holding on as she tries to untangle her unhelpful tresses. A second after freeing them she can no longer keep her legs against the branch she was aiming for and the only thing stopping her fall is the branch she is now hanging from with both arms, the one she was afraid to put her weight against before. There is nowhere else she can move towards either and too much motion might make it snap anyway.

"You'll have to let go Elena." He tells her something she already knew, but had to hear. "I will catch you. Nothing will happen to you, I give you my word."

"Like you promised to kill Klaus?" She feels sorry for the words just as soon as she says them, but he doesn't say anything to contradict her and she swallows back an apology. The truth is she knows he will catch her, there is no doubt in her mind and there is nothing that scares her quite as much as the knowledge that she still after everything trusts him. She doesn't think she knows how not to do so.

She closes her eyes, carefully pulls up her knees and moments before letting go pushes herself away. And then she is flying, the sensation is so freeing she forgets her fear, her uncertainty and lets herself fall. Then she feels his arms enveloping her in safety.

He caught her, of course he did. Her own arms wrap around his neck and she breathes in his unique scent that always makes her simultaneously think of a cold winter night and a warm summer swim. He's both power and safety and when she opens her eyes to look into his she is instead caught by the sight of the slight smile on his lips. She moves closer and moments before their lips meet she is awake.

The disappointment and relief war inside her. She knows what this dream wanted to show her, and knowing just how much she still trusts Elijah is both exciting and frightening. It means something and she is afraid to find out why.

O0o0O **Further Dreams Coming** O0o0O


	5. The Waltz of Flowers Dream

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

A/N: I have been working on this since the last chapter which is truthfully a while back (sorry), but then I watched the newest promo and unstuck. Hope this _slightly_ makes up for the wait.

O0o0O **Sleeping Awake** O0o0O

O0o0O **The Waltz of Flowers Dream** O0o0O

It's been a while since she last saw him in her dreams, more than a month since she almost kissed him. That is probably the case, because she is so frightened of what her interrupted action might mean.

But now when she stands with her eyes closed, some soft melody and the pleasant fragrance of many burning candles encircling her senses she knows what awaits her. And she can't manage to produce the fear her waking self has worried over, she's missed him.

"Do you think you'll ever open your eyes Elena?"

His tone is amused and slightly delighted as if her slow drinking in of surroundings through the other senses is somehow sweet, she can't help the smile she feels blooming on her face. Is starting to notice that she never can, it's weird for someone who hasn't honestly smiled in months when actually awake.

"In a little bit. I like the music and it sounds familiar, what is that?"

He laughs and goose bumps rise on the back of her neck, the air is pleasantly warm so she can't blame anything other than Elijah. That laughter expresses such rich quality it somehow suddenly reminds her of glowing ambers and the warmth from a lit fireplace. Her eyelids flutter, but stay closed.

"It should, everyone must have seen Tchaikovsky's most famous ballet even just once."

This time his voice carries slight arrogance, that still somehow manages to be appealing. She curses the road her thoughts are traveling down now, everything about him is appealing… and subtly dangerous.

It almost distracts her from what he has said. But then the melody takes form and she recognizes the 'Waltz of Flowers', her mother's most favorite number from the Nutcracker. Elena knows it played on her mothers wedding, she still remembers sneaking down late at night to watch her parents twirling through the living room every year on their anniversary. For the first time it's not pain that comes forward, but fond remembrance. A tear still escapes. They loved each other so much.

And then a warm hand touches her cheek wiping the salt from her face. Elena's eyes open in surprise and connect with his, she feels as if something hits her in her lower stomach and rests there waiting. The feeling is new and she can't quite translate it yet, she isn't sure if she wants to.

"Thanks!" Her voice carries as barely a whisper, it's so weak.

"You're welcome."

He tips his head to the side as if considering something and Elena is afraid he's going to ask why she almost cried. She won't be able to answer she knows, the subject of her parents is still too raw for her even now, even with Elijah. He might have caught some of that from her expression, because he doesn't push her to say anything.

Instead he steps back and extends towards her the hand that a moment ago covered her teardrop and bows very slightly. His eyes don't leave her face.

"Would you like to dance my Lady Elena?"

She doesn't freeze, doesn't hesitate. She takes his hand curtsies, just like she was taught to and steps into his arms as if she belongs there. And wishes she could smother the inner voice that makes her consider it true.

"I would love to Lord Elijah." An expression passes over his face so quickly she doesn't catch it, but something about it seems noteworthy. She puts it at the back of her mind as food for later thought.

And only when they start to whirl across the room does she notice that they have been standing in a large ballroom and that the light is coming from a hundred white candles decorating the floor by its walls. The music is played by a quartet of faceless violinists and they are the only two people in there.

His hand rests against her back and as they expertly spin across the hardwood floor she fights the urge to look at him again. She is already lost in him deeply enough, she has no intention to explore just how much or to fall completely.

"This was my mother's favorite waltz."

She didn't mean to tell him this, but the words spill out and her heart doesn't shatter as she thought it would. Some weight lifts from her shoulders and Elijah just looks at her. He doesn't signal sympathy, he sends towards her an expression of something so much better. Understanding.

"It isn't bad that you miss them. I can tell you that you will never forget either of them."

And then he keeps silent, not saying anything else, just continuing to dance to the repeating rhythm of one-two-three.

"You won't tell me how it's going to get easier are you?"

She has listened to those words so often by now she no longer quite hears them. They've long since lost all meaning and she doesn't think she could take hearing them from him too.

"No it won't be easier or at least it won't be all the time. Things might get better however."

She chooses not to respond - at least not with words, instead she steps closer and rests her head against his shoulder changing the way they dance. She is far too close for a proper waltz now, instead the previously light atmosphere turns more intimate. She hears as he stops breathing and can't contain the slight smirk this brings forth in her. It's nice to know that she still has some power over him.

Of course with his body pressed against hers it makes it hard to ignore the fact he affects her just as much. He is strong, but warmer than she expected. This Original had always emanated such a complicated mix of cool detachment and warm care she could never quite decide how he would feel up close, - not that she ever thought about it, - but she never would have imagined just how _good _his body would mould against hers. It's utterly terrifying.

And it reminds her why she has spent the past month so scared. He isn't even real, Elijah isn't actually there with her. She is dancing with some sort of mutated memory of a person she barely knew and she can't understand why it's _him_ of all men. She's not drowning her misery in Stefan, or Damon or even Matt, she even barely thinks about them here. It's like she constructed a world just for Elijah and her.

And none of it makes any sense.

What she should do is run away, ignore him entirely until he leaves or until the dreams stop. But she can't do that, she's barely alive in Mystic Falls now and Elijah makes her smile.

He got her to tell something personal about her mother and she can't normally even think about them without swallowing back depression by the side of anyone else. She needs him.

The melody is nearing the end and somehow she knows that the moment the violin plays the last notes she's going to wake up, so very slightly Elena pulls back and looks up at the man responsible for both the calming and the causing of her inner turmoil. She can't think of the right words to tell him just how grateful she is for his presence, imagined as it might be.

"Thank you!" It is nowhere near good enough, but she hopes her eyes express what her words can't. This time her words certainly contain so much more meaning.

"It was my pleasure."

And then Elijah does something unexpected, but also something she should have seen coming. He takes her hand, his gentle brown eyes not leaving hers and brings it to his mouth kissing her naked palm.

His lips barely meet her skin and even as her insides sing she curses Elijah for being such a gentleman.

Finally after an eternity of staring at him the music stops, Elijah vanishes and the only thing touching her are the sheets she fell asleep in.

O0o0O **Further Dreams Coming** O0o0O


End file.
